Progress 09/01/12 to 08/31/16
Outputs
Target Audience:Target Audience The target audience for the program is Hispanic students involved in agricultural marketing programs at Cal Poly Pomona. The students are from families with little or no college education, and they have had little or no mentoring in the area of success in a college setting and beyond. Products Type Status Year Published N/A N/A N/A N/A Citation N/A NIFA Support Acknowledged N/A Other Products Product Type Other N/A Description Teaching and mentoring of students by Dr. Jon C. Phillips. Changes/Problems A lot of issues stemmed from the fact that it was the fourth year of a three-year grant, obtained through a no-cost extension of the grant. There was a holdup in getting the reimbursements for the trip to the FDRS Conference in Oct. 2015. This was due to several factors. Regardless, it was late May when the students and faculty received their reimbursement checks for this trip. We didn't want to schedule a class until we knew we were going to receive the no-cost extension of the grant. When we scheduled the class for the winter quarter, the students had already enrolled in their winter classes. It would have been difficult to find a time that everyone interested in the class was available to meet, so we set it up as an online, asynchronous class. Students wanted to meet to discuss the NAMA project. We scheduled a room under the auspices of the NAMA club during a time designated for club meetings. This was less than ideal, because not every student in the class came to campus on the day of the class meeting. Plus, students sometimes had other club meetings or Ag Council meetings during the time the group was meeting. The takeaway point is that to effectively organize a project like this, you need to schedule a class with a meeting time and a meeting place, rather than an online class. Also, after we received a no-cost extension for the grant, the grant was put on hold by our grants and contracts entity. They wanted an updated budget for the fourth year of the grant. It took College of Agriculture representatives much too long to get this completed and submitted. Once the updated budget was accepted, the grant stayed on hold. There was an issue with a $6,000 line item in the original budget, for consultant fees. By the time the grant was released from hold and the money could be spent, the winter quarter was over and the students had gone on to other activities. We didn't have the opportunity to use grant funds for the fees of the Microsoft Certification Exams. During the last year of the grant, nobody took a Microsoft Certification Exam. We went ahead with travelling to the FDRS Conference, purchasing iPads, and purchasing textbooks. We felt that these were essential to keeping the program going during the fourth year. Because the grant was on hold, however, our departmental discretionary account was sent into a negative balance, by thousands of dollars, for several months. In addition, the graduate assistant was working in the winter quarter for ~six weeks without receiving a paycheck. Eventually, everything was paid back out of the grant, but the negative balance issue went on for so long that it created a problem when money was needed for other things. Also, the faculty member and graduate student who were working on the grant did not receive information about how much money was left in the grant during the summer of 2016. The result was that not all of the funds of the grant were used up, even though these two individuals were available to work more on the grant (e.g., developing educational materials). Changes/Problems:Changes/Problems A lot of issues stemmed from the fact that it was the fourth year of a three-year grant, obtained through a no-cost extension of the grant. There was a holdup in getting the reimbursements for the trip to the FDRS Conference in Oct. 2015. This was due to several factors. Regardless, it was late May when the students and faculty received their reimbursement checks for this trip. We didn't want to schedule a class until we knew we were going to receive the no-cost extension of the grant. When we scheduled the class for the winter quarter, the students had already enrolled in their winter classes. It would have been difficult to find a time that everyone interested in the class was available to meet, so we set it up as an online, asynchronous class. Students wanted to meet to discuss the NAMA project. We scheduled a room under the auspices of the NAMA club during a time designated for club meetings. This was less than ideal, because not every student in the class came to campus on the day of the class meeting. Plus, students sometimes had other club meetings or Ag Council meetings during the time the group was meeting. The takeaway point is that to effectively organize a project like this, you need to schedule a class with a meeting time and a meeting place, rather than an online class. Also, after we received a no-cost extension for the grant, the grant was put on hold by our grants and contracts entity. They wanted an updated budget for the fourth year of the grant. It took College of Agriculture representatives much too long to get this completed and submitted. Once the updated budget was accepted, the grant stayed on hold. There was an issue with a $6,000 line item in the original budget, for consultant fees. By the time the grant was released from hold and the money could be spent, the winter quarter was over and the students had gone on to other activities. We didn't have the opportunity to use grant funds for the fees of the Microsoft Certification Exams. During the last year of the grant, nobody took a Microsoft Certification Exam. We went ahead with travelling to the FDRS Conference, purchasing iPads, and purchasing textbooks. We felt that these were essential to keeping the program going during the fourth year. Because the grant was on hold, however, our departmental discretionary account was sent into a negative balance, by thousands of dollars, for several months. In addition, the graduate assistant was working in the winter quarter for ~six weeks without receiving a paycheck. Eventually, everything was paid back out of the grant, but the negative balance issue went on for so long that it created a problem when money was needed for other things. Also, the faculty member and graduate student who were working on the grant did not receive information about how much money was left in the grant during the summer of 2016. The result was that not all of the funds of the grant were used up, even though these two individuals were available to work more on the grant (e.g., developing educational materials). What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? The students presented a business/marketing plan to professional judges (academics) at the 2015 Food Distribution Research Society (FDRS) Conference. At the FDRS Conference, the students attended educational sessions, a reception, and a banquet. The students presented another, different business/marketing plan at the 2016 National Agri-Marketing Association (NAMA) Conference. At the NAMA Conference, the students also got to attend a trade show and a student-professional mentor luncheon. The two conferences also provided numerous opportunities for the students to engage in networking, both with professional attendees as well as other students. Also, the students got to meet agribusiness professionals from Index Fresh during their field trip. They got to find out about the history and operations of the company, and got plenty of chances to ask questions. The faculty member involved got to attend and participate in the 2015 Food Distribution Research Society Conference in Philadelphia. A staff member got to attend and participate in the 2016 NAMA Conference in Kansas City. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Business/Marketing Plan Executive Summary: "Avo-Nuts," for a product made from avocado seeds (i.e., pits) intended to be used as a baking ingredient, submitted to the National Agri-Marketing Association office. This was also presented to a panel of judges comprised of agribusiness professionals. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? The grant is now finished. We have institutionalized our student NAMA chapter at Cal Poly Pomona, however. Students are interested in participating in the annual student NAMA competition in April, 2017. Of course, a lot of work has to be completed before then, and funding has to be approved for the trip. In addition, we hope to apply for another grant to continue and extend this work.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
What was accomplished under these goals? When the 2015 - 2016 academic year started, the grant had expired. It was scheduled to be a three-year grant, but we still had a substantial amount of funds left over when the grant expired in Aug., 2015. We applied for a no-cost extension, and were confident that we were going to receive it. In the spring of 2015, we did some preliminary work by recruiting officers for the Cal Poly Pomona student chapter of the National Agri-Marketing Association (NAMA) club. Each fall, the Food Distribution Research Society (FDRS) holds a conference. At this conference, there is a live case competition for teams from universities. We had taken 10 students to compete in this in 2014. It seemed to be an enjoyable and educational activity, so we decided to do it again. We recruited four students from among the officers of the NAMA club to go to the 2015 FDRS competition. Another student who joined the program midway in the previous year was also recruited. One faculty member and the five students registered for the conference and the competition and traveled to Philadelphia. The company featured in the 2015 FDRS competition was To-Jo Mushrooms of Avondale, Pennsylvania. The case focused on blending mushrooms with ground beef. The company wanted to expand its presence in this sector of the industry. It asked the students for a strategy to set up a supply chain for supplying the mushroom-blended ground beef to restaurants. During the day of the case, the students watched a presentation by company executives. They got to ask questions and even had an individual meeting with the executives of To-Jo Mushrooms. During the day of the competition, the students spent their time researching the mushroom, ground beef, and restaurant industries. They developed a plan to set up a supply chain for To-Jo Mushrooms and to distribute their products to restaurants. The students made a Power Point and presented their plan twice, to two panels of judges. This also required them to answer questions from the judges. After we returned from the FDRS Conference, we received a notice from the USDA. In the middle of November, we learned that the no-cost extension for the grant was approved. We decided to schedule another section of ABM 405 for the winter quarter, 2017. We went with an online, asynchronous format for this particular class. We had 14 students in the class this year, 7 of whom were Hispanic. One student who joined the program in the spring of 2015 registered for the winter, 2016 class, too. We also hired a graduate student to serve as graduate teaching assistant for the class. Following is a summary of the involvement and activities of the past three years. Academic year: 2013 - 2014 15 students, 8 of whom were Hispanic One undergraduate student assistant Trip: NAMA competition (Jacksonville, FL) One guest speaker Academic year: 2014 - 2015 11 students, 2 of whom were Hispanic One graduate student assistant Trips: FDRS competition (Salt Lake City, UT), Commodity Classic educational sessions and trade show (Phoenix, AZ) Six guest speakers Number of students passing Microsoft certification exams: Word (13), Excel (6), Power Point (7) Academic year: 2015 - 2016 14 students, 7 of whom were Hispanic One graduate student assistant Trips: FDRS competition (Philadelphia, PA), NAMA competition (Kansas City, KS)
Publications
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Progress 09/01/14 to 08/31/15
Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience for the program is hispanic students involved in agricultural marketing programs at Cal Poly Pomona. The students are from families with little or no college education, and they have had little or no mentoring in the area of success in a college setting and beyond. Changes/Problems:These are changes in approach, not problems. We brought in a lot more guest speakers this year. The speakers were local agribusiness professionals. The reason is that we started in the summer prior to the class, so we had plenty of time to plan and invite people. We got the computer lab in the Agriculture Building on campus approved to be a site where people can take Microsoft Certification Exams. The graduate student on the program was approved to be a proctor for exams taken at this site. As a result, this was our best year with regard to the Microsoft Certification Exams. This is detailed in the 'Progress toward goals' section above. Once again, by starting in the summer time, we were able to get the ball rolling with the vendor of the exams. The graduate student on the project was very pro-active and diligent in accomplishing the goals related to the Microsoft Application Exams. We took a group of students to the 2014 Food Distribution Research Society Conference. Students competed in the Food Marketing Challenge, which was part of this conference. Students also got to network with conference attendees, who were mostly university faculty members. The reason we did this is that we had a class in the fall, which matched the schedule for this conference and competition. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The students and the faculty member involved learned a great deal about Microsoft applications (Word, Excel, and Power Point). The students presented a business/marketing plan to professional judges at the 2014 Food Distribution Research Society Conference. The faculty member involved got to attend (participate in) the 2014 Food Distribution Research Society Conference (Salt Lake City) and the 2015 annual meeting of the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association (San Francisco). How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Poster presentation: Phillips, Jon C., Benjamin Lehan, Abraham Gomez ,Cesar Martin, Soraya Nolasco, Chastity Rosales, Bryce von Helms, and Dennis Wu (2015). "Shelton's Poultry: A Business Strategy Case Study," poster presentation at the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association Meetings, San Francisco, California, July. Business/Marketing Plan Executive Summary: "Olive Long and Prosper," for a nutritional supplement made from olive leaves, submitted to the National Agri-Marketing Association office. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We are continuing similar activities with another group of 14 students from Cal Poly Pomona.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
We started off the 2014 - 2015 academic year with a class scheduled (ABM 405, 4 units) for the grant participants. We had 11 students enrolled in the class. Each of the students was provided free books for the class and an iPad. We had an opportunity to attend the Food Distribution Research Society (FDRS) meeting in Salt Lake City. The faculty member teaching the class took nine students from the program and the graduate teaching assistant to compete in the Food Marketing Challenge at the FDRS meeting. For one student, it was the first time she had ever flown in an airplane. For another student, it was his first time flying commercially. We had two teams of five students in the competition. The company featured in the competition was Central Milling (Logan, UT) and the product was living sprouted grain. It was a live case competition. The students had a limited amount of time to research the product, develop a marketing plan, and make a presentation. The students had the opportunity to interview company representatives. They also presented two times, to two sets of judges. The day after the competition, the students went on a tour of Park City, UT. Featured stops on the tour were two beverage production facilities. Two of the students from the fall class were Hispanic, and both went to Salt Lake City and competed. A goal of the project was to introduce the students to local agribusiness professionals. Several guest speakers from the agribusiness community were invited to visit the students in ABM 405 in the fall. The speakers who spoke to the class included: Mr. Gary Flanagan Chief Executive Officer Shelton's Premium Poultry Mr. Steve Pastor Executive Director Riverside County Farm Bureau, Inc. Mr. Steve Pearson Vice President American AgCredit Mr. Cory Lunde Policy Analyst & Project Manager Western Growers Mr. Dana Thomas President and CEO Index Fresh Inc. Ms. Karen B. Caplan CEO and President Frieda's Inc.,The Specialty Produce Company An important part of the fall class was to work on skills with Microsoft applications. We focused on Microsoft Word, doing various lessons in class to develop our skills over the quarter. We got the computer lab in the College of Agriculture approved as a location where students can take Microsoft certification exams. Our efforts were successful in the fall, in that 10 out of 11 students passed the Microsoft certification exam for Word, as did the graduate assistant. We scheduled another class for students in the program to take in the winter quarter. Five students from the fall class continued with the winter class (ABM 310, 3 units). We added a new student to the group, starting in January. This student, a Hispanic, also received an iPad. We worked on developing a marketing plan for a new agri-food product in the winter. The product was a nutritional supplement derived from olives ("Olive Long and Prosper"). We completed a five-page executive summary for the olive project. This document was submitted to the National Agri-Marketing Association (NAMA). In the winter quarter, the students researched educational opportunities and requested to attend the Commodity Classic in Phoenix, AZ. The Commodity Classic is the annual meeting for several commodity organizations, including those for growers of corn, wheat, soybeans, and grain sorghum. The instructor of the class and the graduate assistant accompanied five students from the class to Phoenix for the event. (Two of the students who attended were Hispanic.) The Commodity Classic had numerous educational seminars on the program. It also included a trade show for agricultural equipment and other components of the agri-food supply chain. The educational program related to Microsoft computer applications continued in the winter. In ABM 310, we focused on Excel. Five of the six students in the class and the graduate assistant passed the certification exam for Excel. The students continued to learn about Power Point. Five students from the class also took and passed the certification exam for Power Point. Because we didn't take any certification exams during the 2013- 2014 academic year, the students from that year were invited to take Microsoft certification exams. Two students from the previous year came back to do this. Both students passed both the Word and Power Point exams. In total, the number of students who passed certification exams throughout the year were: Word: 13 Excel: 6 Power Point: 7 Four students, including one Hispanic student, passed all three exams. One Hispanic student passed two exams, and two Hispanic students passed one exam. Students received a certificate in the mail for each exam they passed, and they could include the relevant accomplishments on their resumes. The instructor of ABM 405 and ABM 310 offered to supervise students in an independent study class in the spring. Two students continued with the program by taking independent study classes. One did a study of the almond industry and the other did a study of the craft beer industry in Southern California. In the summer of 2015, the faculty member who implemented the program presented a poster at the annual meeting of the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association. This poster was a result of the work done by participants in the program, starting in spring, 2015.
Publications
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Submitted
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Phillips, Jon C., Benjamin Lehan, Abraham Gomez , Cesar Martin, Soraya Nolasco, Chastity Rosales, Bryce von Helms, and Dennis Wu (2015). Sheltons Poultry: A Business Strategy Case Study, poster presentation at the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association Meetings, San Francisco, California, July.
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Progress 09/01/13 to 08/31/14
Outputs
Target Audience: The target audience for the program is hispanic students involved in agricultural marketing programs at Cal Poly Pomona. The students are from families with little or no college education, and they have had little or no mentoring in the area of success in a college setting and beyond. Changes/Problems: First of all, the faculty member who wrote the grant proposal resigned from the university in January, 2013. A different faculty member started working on grant activities to a limited extent during fall, 2013. This replacement faculty member got going on the project in earnest during winter (i.e. January, 2014). So, while this was officially the second year of the project it was, in a certain sense, the first year of the project. Many of the activities of the project took place for the first time during the period of review. A couple of important examples of these first-time activities were having classes related to the grant and travel of students and faculty to a competition. One problem was a delay in receiving our travel reimbursement for our trip to a competition in April. It took 2-3 weeks for us to submit our travel forms, due to the volume of documentation required and a lack of experience in completing this paperwork. Much of the delay, however, occurred after the travel claim forms were submitted. In fact, we did not receive our reimbursement checks until early-to-mid June. During this delay, the students were asked to pay for a Microsoft certification exam, travel to an off-site testing facility to take the exam, and then file a form to get reimbursed. Because the students were already waiting for a check from the Cal Poly Pomona Foundation, it was understandable that they did not do it. It should be noted that the delay in receiving reimbursement was not necessarily the only reason it certainly was a contributing factor. Unfortunately, nobody took a Microsoft certification exam during the period of review. The delay in payments went beyond just travel reimbursements. One vendor balked when asked to sell something on credit card and send a bill. They requested a guarantee that they would receive payment within one week, because the university and/or foundation already owed them thousands of dollars from previous sales. (Of course, part of this delay was due to the people making the purchases not submitting paperwork for payment in a timely fashion.) One final administrative issue is the Kronos software that is used to track hours worked (i.e., payroll application) by the Cal Poly Pomona Foundation. This software has an inefficient user interface. It takes a long time to load. Each time the time cards are examined, a message is generated related to whether or not the user wants to run a Java applet. At one point, it required the completion of a Help Desk Ticket and a visit from university I.T. staff. The Kronos software does not work on the home computer of the faculty member involved in the project. For that reason, anytime something has to be done related to time cards, a trip to the office is necessary. Suffice it to say that this software is difficult to use. On a positive note, the payroll staff of Cal Poly Pomona has been extremely helpful and friendly, and it is a pleasure to work with them. Another problem was that a question arose as to whether we could use grant funds to pay for certain expenses related to a competition. At one point in the spring of 2014, it looked like we would not be able to return to the competition that we had entered. The students’ morale really suffered at this point. The idea that our team was not going to continue really took the wind out of their sails. Rather than congratulating them and thanking them for representing our university at a competition in Florida, action was taken to prevent students from doing what they did again in the future. Around this time, with three weeks to go in the spring quarter, the student assistant who had been working on the project for two years quit. Having to announce to the students that it didn’t look like we were going to participate in the competition the following year and not having a student employee to help with project activities was definitely a low point. In addition, despite the fact that they were offered a trip to the 2014 Western Extension and Research Activity #72 for Agribusiness Competitiveness meeting during the summer, none of the students engaged in any project-related activities after the end of spring quarter. During the summer, the faculty member involved with the project conducted an investigation related to the question mentioned above. The goal was to determine if there was any rule or policy that would prevent us from participating in the same marketing plan competition again in 2015. A high level representative of the Division of Student Affairs was consulted on the matter. This representative further inquired with high level representatives of the Associated Students Inc. of Cal Poly Pomona and the Cal Poly Pomona Foundation. Nobody was aware of any rule or policy that precluded us from using grant funds to do what we did in terms of the competition. So, it actually got resolved in a favorable way, although about eight professionals had to spend time on this issue. This time didn’t directly contribute to achieving the goals of the project. We look forward to continuing with our learning and professional development and are confident that our experience to date will help us to achieve our goals. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Of course, the students who took ABM 405 and ABM 310 received training. This training included both classroom activities as well as assignments to be completed outside of the class. As mentioned previously, 15 students and one faculty member attended the 2014 NAMA Conference. The students competed in the annual student food marketing competition at the NAMA Conference. It had been several years since Cal Poly Pomona had fielded a team for the NAMA competition. If it weren't for this grant, we wouldn't have sent a team in 2014, either. At the NAMA Conference, there were many opportunities for professional development. For example, there was a trade show where the students could walk around and meet agribusiness professionals. In addition, there was a 'Student-Mentor Lunch.' At this event,students were arranged around tables. Each table of ~6 students had one agribusiness professional, who talked about his/her business and provided suggestions/hints about professional life. The agribusiness professionals were very enthusiastic, and continued to talk for a long time after the scheduled end of the lunch. The students also stayed, so they must have been getting something out of it. Another professional development opportunity was the 2014 meeting of the Western Extension and Research Activity #72 for Agribusiness Competitiveness. The faculty member involved in the grant and several students from the grant co-authored a selected paper for this meeting. The faculty member attended the meeting and made the presentation. This meeting consisted of several presentations, mostly by university faculty but at least one by an industry representative. This provided an excellent professional development opportunity for the faculty member from Cal Poly Pomona who attended the meeting and made a presentation. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? There were two results that were disseminated to communities of interest. One of these related to the work that the students did related to turkey meat sticks produced by Shelton's Poultry of Pomona, California. The format of the result was a five page info-graphic. This document contained an executive summary of the research the students had done, as well as a marketing plan for turkey meat sticks. This document was disseminated to the staff of the National Agri-Marketing Association (NAMA), who further distributed it to judges of the NAMA student marketing competition. In addition,copies were provided to the owners of Shelton's Poultry, the Dean of Agriculture of Cal Poly Pomona, as well as the Interim Chair of the Agribusiness and Food Industry Managment - Agricultural Education Department. There were also oral presentations, using Power Point, of the results. One presentation took place in front of judges and other attendees of the NAMA Conference. Another presentation was attended by the owners of Shelton's Poultry, on the campus of Cal Poly Pomona. Students who did not present at the NAMA Conference were required to present to the owners of Shelton's Poultry. This way, among the student who registered for ABM 310 in the spring, everyone participated in an oral presenation. At the end of this second presentation, the owners of Shelton's Poultry asked questions and provided feedback to the students on the material presented. The other results related to work done after the NAMA Conference, during the spring quarter. This work involved research into the pet food and pet treats industry. In addition to the turkey meat sticks, Shelton's Poultry was trying to market pet treats made out of turkey. In January, after a guest lecture by the president of Shelton's Poultry,a considerablenumber of students had indicated that they were interested in the pet treats offered by Shelton's. So, the class decided to continue to work with Shelton's after we finished the meat stick project, and to focus research efforts on the pet food and pet treats industry. These research effortsresulted in a selected paper at the 2014 Western Extension and Research Activity (WERA)#72 for Agribusiness Competitiveness meeting in Santa Clara, California. The selected paper was transmitted to the leadership of WERA - #72, after the meeting. There was discussion at the meeting of posting the selected papers on the group's website, but it is unclear whether or not this happened. A copy of the selected paper was also given to the owners of Shelton's Poultry. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? We plan to do a number of activities, as indicated below. Recruit more students to participate in the program. Recruit and hire a new student assistant. Schedule ABM 405, Food and Agricultural Marketing Applications, for 4 quarter units, in the fall quarter. Schedule ABM 310, Seminar in Food and Agribusiness Management, for 3 quarter units, in the winter quarter. Purchase iPads and distribute them to the students who take ABM 405 and ABM 310. Get a larger number and a greater variety of agribusiness professionals to make guest lectures in the classes. Identify competitions for students to make marketing and business plan presentations, including, but not limited to, the annual NAMA competition, and take a group of students to compete. Teach students about business travel, including how to complete a travel expense claim form. Establish a student NAMA chapter at Cal Poly Pomona, with students from this grant program as the officers. Investigate the process of registering for and taking Microsoft applications (e.g. Word) certification exams, with the intention of having the students take and pass the exams.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
We made some significant accomplishments during the period of review. One faculty member and an undergraduate student assistant were directly involved in the grant project. We recruited 15 students to take part in the project and class that started in January, 2014. Eight (8) of these students were Hispanic. The class was ABM 405, Food and Agricultural Marketing Applications, for 4 quarter units. Thirteen of the15 students in the class received a new iPad, paid for with grant funds. (One student returned from the previous year of the grant program, so she didn't need an iPad. Another student received an iPad from a different grant and said that he didn't need a new one.) The students were introduced to local agribusiness professionals, specifically, the owners of Shelton’s Poultry, Inc., of Pomona, California. The students did a research and creative project that addressed turkey meat sticks from Shelton’s Poultry. The students designed and implemented a consumer survey related to turkey meat sticks. Based on a review of secondary data, as well as survey results, the students developed a five-page info-graphic. This document was an executive summary of a marketing plan for the turkey meat sticks. Eleven of the 15 students continued with the follow-up class that was offered in the spring quarter. The follow-up class was ABM 310, Seminar in Food and Agribusiness Management, for 3 quarter units. Ten students were registered for the class, and one student registered for an independent study class and attended ABM 310. Two were in ABM 310 and did additional academic work for the independent study units. Spring quarter started the first week of April. There were various reasons why four students did not continue, including the fact that they took a class that met at the same time. One of these four students did continue in the spring with an independent study project that was supervised by the faculty involved with the grant. Two students whowere in ABM 310 registered for additional independent study units in the spring and did additional academic work for the independent study units.We entered a team in the 2014 National Agri-Marketing Association student marketing competition. The faculty coach, the student assistant, and 14 students from the winter class traveled to the conference in Jacksonville, Florida.
Publications
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
Phillips, Jon C., Shannon Carrigan, Karina Ortega, Maria Santamaria, Fatima Tamayo, and Cassie Thistle (2014). An Analysis of the Pet Food and Pet Treats Industry. Selected Paper Presentation, Western Extension and Research Activity #72 on Agribusiness Competitiveness (WERA-72) Meeting, Santa Clara, CA, June.
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Progress 09/01/12 to 08/31/13
Outputs
Target Audience: The target audience for the program is hispanic students involved in Agricultural Marketing programs at Cal Poly Pomona. The students are from families with little or no college education, and they have had little or no mentoring in the area of success in a college setting and beyond. Changes/Problems: We had several changes and issues with the first year of this program, all related to the resignation of the PI: 1. Because the PI left rather abruptly, but without official resignation, we had to wait to move the program to another individual's management until his resignation was complete. The result of this was a plan that was off track by several months, lack of organization and planning for the competitions and other activities in which the group was to participate, and also lack of leadership for the program. 2. Last year, we were not able to attend any marketing meetings where the students could experience marketing presentations and critiques from those in agribusiness and marketing professions. Again this was related to the interruption of the program due to the resignation of the PI. 3. Because there was quite a lot of uncertainty as to the future of the program, the student inerest waned. We will be more consistent this year regarding the progress and momentum for the program. So far, we are off to a very good start. 4. Last year, we did not create a class associated with this project. This allows the students to drop off and minimize their interest in the program. This year, the students participating in the program will be required to sign up for a class associated with the project, and will receive a grade associated with thieir participation and completion of the goals of the program. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Basic informational training for the students began in Fall quarter os 2012. The following training was accomplished, which provided the students a basis for development of their marketing plans: a. Student education for the purposes of this program have included: 1. Three (3) one-hour lessons with a Microsoft consultants a. Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Excel training. 2. Three (3) ninety-minute lessons with an Apple consultant. a. Apple Pages, Slides, Numbers training 3. Two forty-five minute lessons with Julie Shen, Cal Poly Pomona’s business librarian. a. Introduction to various databases accessible through Cal Poly Pomona library including Factiva, ProQuest, S&P NetAdvantage, Mergent Online, IBIS World, and ABI/Inform. b. Using ESRI’s online ArcGIS “Tapestry” to identify regional demographics. 4. Case studies provided by Professional Marketing Firms. a. One fully implemented business plan including marketing goals, timeline and budget. Familiarizes students with the formatting, language, and appearance expected of competent marketers. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? We did not complete this portion due to the change-over in faculty and the slowdown of the program in Spring of 2013. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? We have remediated the issue of the resignation of the Principle Investigator by adding the Department Chair to the grant as PI, and including another Agribusiness Marketing professor to the project to mentor the students and run the program on a day to day basis. The student employee who was involved in the first year's program will remain involved in the second year's program also. We acknowledge that progress on the program slowed considerably during the time when the resignation of the PI was uncertain, and also after the PI resigned prior to re-staffing the program. We lost some student interest and were off schedule in getting the goals accomplished that we had anticipated we would complete by the end of the academic year. Suggested changes in methodology for the year 2013-2014: 1.Additional lectures during the first quarter of each academic year should be dedicated to familiarizing students with the various online resources relevant to completion of a marketing plan including introducing students to SEC’s Edgar Database and 10-K financial statements. 2. Funds have been allocated to provide food and snacks at meetings at an average cost of $35-$50 per meeting or $350-$500 per quarter. 3.Additional incentives for review include providing small scholarships for participation and completion of the yearly marketing plan and prize money for that group with the best plan at the end of the academic year as ranked by judges during the trial presentations of the marketing plan(s). 4. We have chosen the two marketing competitions that will be attended by the students, and will be working toward those competitions immediately upon assignment of the group of students to the program. Marketing plans will be adapted to fit the format of the competitions if necessary.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
The program was instituted in Fall quarter of 2012. For the first quarter, we solicited potential students and conducted student interviews, afer which we selected 12 students to participate in the program. Basic informational training for the students began in Fall quarter of 2012. Students found two agricultural operations that were willing to work with the group, allowing them to develop marketing plans for their products. Both of these businesses were located in Southern California, providing relatively easy access for student involvement. i. Participation and Observations a. Students are expected to meet a minimum of once per week during the academic year in order to remain up-to-date in regards to overall progress and for the delegation of weekly assignments. In some cases additional meetings are required for each of the two to three client groups to meet and coordinate tasks amongst themselves. b. Attendance from the second quarter of the first academic year onward is recorded in Excel worksheet “Attend.xlsx”. Participation saw a marked decline after the resignation of the grant’s original principle investigator. Two of the twelve students taken on during the first year immediately cut involvement. In following up with these two individuals it was discovered that their initial interest in the project was modest at best and the disorganization after the first month allowed the two students an opportunity to gracefully remove themselves. Progress in the second quarter of the first academic year saw roughly 80-85% weekly participation and timely completion of assignments. However, most of this time was spent covering lectures and training that had not been provided according the original schedule under the first Principle Investigator. Third quarter participation rates dropped to an average 38% among participants. Reasons acquired from students include “lack of vision related to faculty non-involvement, stress-related pressures related to the remaining work to be completed (burnout), and lack of incentive to attend weekly meetings especially as U-hour (12pm-1pm T/Th) is increasingly used for eating lunch and last-minute studying/homework.”
Publications
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